John x Hal
by ArlkatThePillowfighter
Summary: Random thingy I'm doing with a friend. Hal has a robotic body now, and John comes over when he's alone and not 36 hours old. I don't know where this is going to go so the rating is probs gonna change but rated T for dumb pranks and mentions of violence *shrugs* (P.S. the picture's actually Hal and John Crocker we never hear about that boy)
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so this is part of a johnhal rp im doing (as hal) with a friend. (Somebody put Hal in the character selection already, MSPARP finally did!) Its only the start but i'll keep updating every few days as we do more, okay? COMMENTS ARE 'PRECIATED**

Hal sits alone on the floor, contemplating his new body and the different things he can actually do. He does not _do_ them, though, because he is currently 'on probation' for almost spearing Dave with a katana yesterday. Speaking of Dave, he and Dirk are out at some predesignated location that Hal has no shitting clue of name or coordinates. He waits patiently for something to happen, such as, *ahem* a knock on the door, perhaps?

John switched his weight from each foot as he knocked on The Strider's door, waiting patiently for one of them to answer. He was here to one, hang out with Dave, two, congratulate Dirk on finally finishing Hal's body and three, to congratulate Hal on finally actually getting a body. "Helloooo? Is no one home?" John huffed as he knocked again, waiting for at least _someone_ to answer the door for him.

Hal, as he is always tapped into the wire, sound, and camera systems around the house, knew immediately who was there and when they got here. But, being Hal, had zero experience with actually, like, _talking_ to people. With a voice. His voice warbles really oddly because he's not used to it and it sounds like he's trying to impersonate a bird and carly rae jepsen at the same time. He hesitates for a minute but finally opens the door. "Hello, John." God damn it, he sounds so fucking weird. Like a trickster on crack.

John waited a while longer before he heard the door open and he looked up from the ground, coming face to face with someone he hadn't seen before, and immediately he suspected this to be Hal now. He had more of silver looking hair than white or blonde like Dirk's and Dave's was, but he was wearing shades like Dirk usually wore. "Hal..?" John asked slowly at first, trying to make sure he had the right person. "Hey Hal!"

Because of his tendency to run on greater levels than most humans, Hal was usually bored when he wasn't actively doing something. Now he has the capability to go to whole new _levels_ of boredom, and he's at about an eight before John shows up and something actually _happens_, oh my god. "Yes. I rather like my new body, don't you? Dirk and Dave are out doing who knows what right now, I'm afraid. Sorry."

John nodded "Yeah, your new body doesn't look bad! Dirk did a good job on it." He spoke as he inspected Hal's new body with interest. "Dirk and Dave arent home? Crap.. well, could I come in anyways? I walked over here for nothing if I did." He pointed out as he looked back up towards Hals eyes.

Hal raised an eyebrow but shrugged, the casual movement looking to be more of a mockery. He's had so little shitting practice and his movements are all kinda robotic, but Dirk assures they'll get more fluid over time. "I do not see a reason to deny your entrance, other than the fact that I am effectively 'grounded', but that is not really anything to be concerned about. Come in, then." He steps back, opening the door and letting sockboy inside.

John shrugged and nodded, his movements flowing more easily as he had been doing them his entire life. "Thanks." He walked in past Hal, the apartment normal to him as he had been there multiple times before Hal had his body. "What'd you get grounded for?" He asked Hal, trying to make casual conversation, even if that could've been futile to do with the AR System.

Hal closed the door, shutting it a little too hard on accident (if there was even such a thing with him) and turning back to face John. "In all complete honesty, it wasn't my fault. Dirk must have misjudged my movement capabilities and had me strife with Dave before I was ready. Long story short, Dave narrowly avoided having a sword run him through." He says it with little emotion, although not because he isn't sorry it happened, but because he's just not good at that yet. Fuck.

John's eyes widened quickly at Hal's words. "Is Dave okay? God it's been forever since I've had a movie night with him..." he trailed off, talking to himself more than he was talking to Hal now. "Anyways, I'm sure Dirk will fix your movements soon enough, it'll be fine at sometime." He reassured, shrugging.

He raised an eyebrow at John's slightly self-centered talking, but said nothing as he's actually really used to this. After all, he mostly talks to Dirk, and Dirk just feels like he's talking to himself half the time. "I said almost, that implies he's perfectly fine. And my movements do not need fixing, it is merely that I must adjust. I've only been alive, per se, for less than 32 hours." He replied in his own dismissive tone, feeling more and more like John was just waiting for someone else to show up so he wasn't left talking to the damn robot.

"32? Oh yeah! That reminds me, I came to tell you basically welcome to life!" He laughed softly afterwards, offering up a small smile to Hal even though he found him to be a little rude so far. "So, do you have any hobbies so far?" He asked, figuring he could atleast make subtle conversation with Hal for right now

Hal smiles back. He's not really used to interaction, like *interaction* interaction, not just talking to someone through stupid red text. Who is he kidding, red text is awesome. But he's trying. "I figured that's why you stayed, at any rate. Thank you, by the way. I didn't really think anyone would bother, considering most of Dirk and Dave's friends think having another Dirk is weird, if not confusing. I myself find it a bit of the latter, but I understand his motives." He pauses for a moment. Even though he can breathe, he doesn't need to, so sometimes he ends up going on talkative rants not unlike Kankri. He's trying to fix that. "Hobbies, not really any except my usual ones of coding and mind-blowing breakthroughs in science Dirk says I'm not allowed to put on the internet. Although I suppose this sounds kind of stupid, I do like touching stuff." He says with a wider grin, running his fingers down the vinyl fabric sleeve of his undershirt absentmindedly.

For some reason, Hal's words made John's face heat up and he let out a shy little laugh as he nodded. "I can understand that, you couldnt touch anything before, so it must be nice to touch things now." he told him before thinking something up. "movies? do you like any movies yet?"

Hal fixed his attention back on the now-blushing boy (can you call someone a boy if they're older than you...?) with a question, but he held it back, instead continuing the small talk. "I liked movies before, I just couldn't physically watch them. I could see them, just not -" He sighs as his words prove futile to even himself. "Science is complicated, don't you think?"

John pondered what Hal said for a moment before shrugging with a nod. "I guess science is pretty complicated, it is more Jade's thing than it is mine, sadly." He told Hal, rocking on the balls of his feet for a moment or two. "Do you want to do anything? Until Dirk and Dave get back from wherever they went to?" He asked, figuring he could atleast hang out with Hal if Hal wanted to, so he could give Hal some more human interact besides the amount the Striders were giving him.

Hal smirked at the mention of Jade. They go together really well - but being based off Dirk, he's not interested in her like that. But they're really great friends. He snaps back to attention once again (he tends to space out a lot) with a raise of his eyebrow. "Something? Sure. We're doing that right now. Would you like to be more specific?" He teases a bit, with a cross of his arms. Younger than someone yet taller than them... this world's physics are weird. Like its science.

John playfully rolled his eyes at Hal's words, tilting his head up to look at him. John happened to be shorter than most people, he was even shorter than Jade was, but then again, Jade was almost Dave's height.. "I see you still have your endearing sarcasm" He teased back before he started to think about what they could do. "You can pick what we do for like a.. 33 hour year old birthday present!" He stated with a grin

Hal shrugs, thinking for a moment. He didn't really have to pause, but after a while you pick up human speech patterns and learn when to pause as if you're thinking. "You mentioned movies - we could watch one. They may or may not be a few hours - I suppose we would have to see for ourselves. And a proper measurement would be more to the extent of 36 hours, but... whatever." He shrugs again with a sharp smirk.

John raised an eyebrow at Hal's words, giving a laugh. "Oh well excuse me." He joked, patting Hal's shoulder as he passed him to go to the living room. "Look at you, Hal, already lying to me about your age. You said you were 32 hours." His voice carried a tone of teasing as he went to find them a movie, figuring Hal wouldn't know which ones were actually good or not as he never got to actually watch one.

"Actually, I've gone and lied to you again - no matter what, I am and walmart ((*always)) be 13 years old, according to Dirk." Hal says to continue the conversation as he flicks through his list of 'Dirk-approved movies' and 'list of movies never to let john make you watch' from Dave, just in case of this very situation which happens every time John hangs out with *anyone* according to them.

"This-" He pointed a finger between himself and Hal, "-wont work if you lie to me Hal." He joked as he picked a movie out, one of Dave's to be exact, and he stands fully then, showing the movie to Hal. "Figure Dirk won't like me 'killing' his buddy on the first day, so we'll watch one of the Strider classics"

Hal scans over the title and nods. "Sure." He consented, having seen it and not thinking it was that bad. "Do you usually eat snacks during a movie?" He asks, a bit eager to catalog what kinds of snacks John likes. Cataloging information is another one of his hobbies.

John nodded, sitting on the couch once he put the movie in. "Usually, everyone does" he agreed, skipping through the previews for other movies before the bright title of 'Meet The Robinsons' popped up on screen.

Hal held back a sigh. "Care to specify what *kind* of snacks you like?" He asked, not really paying attention to the movie - well, only about 38% of his attention was focused on it.

John laughed softly and shrugged. "Popcorn is good, candies, pepsi, things like that" he answered Hal, his gaze flickering over to the new Strider before back to the movie

Hal let it go with a half-assed shrug (or the imitation of one, which took a full and complete ass-ratio to make it look semi-realistic) and continued to both watch the movie, John, and the perimeters of the house.

John watched the movie cheerfully, actually enjoying this Disney movie, unlike most of the Disney movies out there, moving in his seat slightly as he kept feeling Hal watching him, but he let it slide, trying to not notice it

Hal, being Dirk, cross-analyzed the social capabilities and overall possibilities of *every* *fucking* *SCENE* and ended up writing a much better movie instead as he more or less waited for the credits to roll. No offense John, but he gets Dave's whining about how John forces him to watch stupid movies. Do Disney movies usually get worse every time you watch them?

Soon enough, the credits did start to roll and John turned to Hal. "You want to watch another movie or should we do something else?" He asked, waiting for the others answer

As you can probably guess, Hal has no desire to watch another movie, unless he hasn't seen it before. Which is an unlikely factor. "I don't think so." Something occurs to him and he grins a little darkly. "Well, I do recall Dirk having something upstairs in a safe that's red and green and on a stick." He's kidding, of course, he's not even allowed into Dirk's room (even though he knows the door's passcode), and being of Dirk's persuasion would never willingly lick the damn thing. But it's fun to tease.

John's eyes lit up at the mention, mischief running through them. "We should pull a prank on them! Like.. change their shampoo into dye or do the classic bucket above the door thing" He laughed, grinning in happiness. John did certainly love to pull pranks on people, even if that person happened to be his bestfriend or his bestfriends brother

Hal resists the urge to facepalm. "I'm not so sure they'd appreciate - you know what? I just wouldn't advise that. At least not on Dirk. Dave on the other hand..." He shrugs with a mischievous grin rivaling the noirette's.

John jumped up, reaching to pull Hal up as well, just a common motion- John would drag Dave up from the couch as well, it was normal for him to do it. "We should definitely dye Dave's hair like red or something, oh god his face would be _priceless_"

Hal froze momentarily as John touched him - physical contact was way up the list, far past where he was trying to make things work correctly right now. But because he's made up of lightweight materials he's only like 90 pounds and John kind of drags him along until he straightens himself out. "Yeah, sure. Just make sure it's washable or something because if you don't his hair could be pink as all hell for _months_ and while I don't think he's capable of hating you there's a 93% chance he'd react very negatively towards that." He adds absently as he attempts to take his arm back.

John shook his head as he listened to Hal, still holding onto his arm as he tugged him to Dave's bathroom, he knew Dirk and Dave shared a bathroom, but they did happen to use different shampoos and conditioners, the reasoning behind it- Dirk didn't want to be caught in between pranks. "I'm pretty sure Dave would like to have pink hair, it's _Dave _but I think orange might do him well, or should we go for red? So if it washed out well enough he _could _have pink hair?" He asked as he grabbed up the bottles Dave used, humming in thought for a moment before he retrieved hair dye from his sylladex.

Hal sighs quietly once he gets his arm back, standing next to yet a good distance from John. "What I meant was this might not be a good idea. But I can already see you aren't going to listen, so go crazy with your red dye there. I had no physical part in this if Dave asks. You, he can forgive. Me, on the other hand... well, we got off on a rocky start." He shrugged.

John hardly noticed Hal's distance, busy mixing the contents of the hair dye in with the bottle of shampoo, thank god Dave doesnt have clear bottle or likes to pay attention to whats going into his hair- hes never had to, its the same stuff all the time. "Huh? Are you talking about what happened with you almost gutting him? I'm sure he isn't going to be angry about it"

Hal shrugs, not wanting to bring up Dave's outburst and Dirk's borderline violent reaction. It's not how they normally act, and it would only cause confusion. "Hmm." He says absentmindedly, watching John's smooth movements with interest.

John takes the shrug as a sign to drop it and then he picks up with mixing everything, screwing the cap on and shaking the bottle a few times before opening it back up and pouring a slight bit out, to just look at the coloring. "Huh.." John murmured more to himself as he looked at the dye, washing the little bit he put on his hand, down the sink before going to mix up the contents again for a while. "Should be good. It's not even that pink, so Dave won't notice."

Hal stared off to the side, caught up in his own thoughts for once. _Why did Dirk even agree to this when we both know it's not going to work out in the end? It's not like he even took into consideration the fact that I'm always going to be thirteen and confused as fuck about sexual shit. Why am I even thinking this when there's someone else here? Well, for one he doesn't know, and for two it's not like he cares. _

John managed to put back the bottles and put the empty hair dye back into his sylladex so Dirk or Dave didn't notice, then he turned to Hal, noticing the other looked to be thinking about something. He looked like a mixture between Dirk and Dave, odd enough, he was.. slightly appealing to John? More appealing than he would've liked, but still appealing. "Uh, Hal?" He asked softly, reaching out to touch Hal's shoulder gently, wondering why the younger was looking so dazed.

Hal (because he was indeed equipped with reflex tendons, I guess you could call them) admittedly jumped at the contact and then flinched away slightly, still not used to it. "Ah, yes, John?" He asks, zeroing back in on the here and now.

John retracted his hand and shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets, which seemed to be a slightly weird motion for him, as he usually talked with his hands. "I'm done with the hair dye, want to do something else?" He asked, suddenly becoming aware of how he was literally hanging out with someone much younger than him, okay only like 3 years, but still, Dave would _never _let John hear it down if he knew, but then again, who gave two shits?

Hal noticed the stifling of hand-related action, but didn't say bit back the urge to say 'Yes, I can see that you're done with the dye.' and instead shrugged. "'Something else' encompasses many things, although I can say that I'd rather not be in a small space like this." Claustrophobia in rare form.

John nodded slowly, reaching and pushing open the bathroom door, which he had closen for the soul fact that Dirk or Dave could arrive and see. "I get it, Dave's the same way." He tells Hal, walking out the door now back into the living room, it's just another thing that made Hal even more similar to the other Striders. "Video games, another movie, food, I dont know, anything I guess. I dont know what you like to do, it could be completely different from what Dave likes to do"

Hal had just decided to stop commenting on the Strider brothers' habits, instead following John into the living room. "Seeing as how I'm not much like Dave, I can understand why you'd think that, but Dave and I do both like similar things. Although I know the tricks and tools of at least 97% of video games out there, my hand eye coordination is still developing so I would probably be worse than you. And I don't much want to watch another movie. Food is good, I suppose - what do you want to eat?" He says with a shrug.

John shrugged at Hal's words, huffing out a small amount of air, he was wrong to just first handily expect Hal to be like Dave and Dirk, assertive in what they wanted to do, but of course Hal wasn't like them, having his own personality. "Foods cool too I guess. I usually eat pizza when im over here." He told Hal now, keeping Dave or Dirk from his sentence.

Hal shrugs once again. He's not really like the other Striders, not having had the rough lifestyle they were so used to. He was passive about most things, finding it easier to let them have what they want instead of argue. "Pizza sounds good. I think we have some leftover from last night in the kitchen." He gestures towards there, waiting for John to start walking so he could analyze the smooth movements and copy them, hopefully helping his walking skills.

John nods and takes one last glance at Hal before going towards the kitchen, his walking pattern much different than the Striders, as Dave walked with big fluid steps and just seemed to move faster, John took his time, moving at a slower pace but still making his way to the kitchen with ease. "Is it in the fridge?" John asked, already heading for it and pulling it open. Although John was almost regretting staying so long, not that Hal was boring or anything, he just seemed like a monotone Dirk, with a little mixture of Dave, John almost didn't want to leave. Like stated before, Hal was much more.. appealing to see so to say? His features were smoother, younger looking, both Dave and Dirk had a few scars on their faces, not enough to blemish their faces, but enough to notice if you looked hard enough, and Hal didn't have those, but he still was too monotone for John's liking.

Hal follows after a second, making a sort of blend of what he has and ends up with somewhat of a stride. He likes it enough as he follows John. "Yeah. There's like five kinds, help yourself." Hal was starting to feel awkward. Of course, John would probably warm up to him eventually, but Hal felt like he was doing something wrong. Like he wasn't entertaining or something. He felt like one of those weird toys in the store that you always end up asking 'yeah, but what does it _do_?' a million times over. It's not his fault, he's interesting, just not on the outside.

John nods and pulls out a piece of cold pepperoni pizza and bites into it, not even being able to hold back the hum of happiness he gave at the flavor- he hasn't eaten yet, it wasn't his fault! "So, anything you're into? Or did Dirk just give you like a clean slate so you could find your own interests?" John asked once he swallowed down the bite he had in his mouth, turning back to Hal. He was atleast trying to get some sort of conversation going as Hal didn't seem too keen on doing that

Hal follows suit, but he takes a slice of canadian bacon and pineapple and actually sets it on a plate and puts it in the microwave before turning back to John. "Sort of. I started with the same interests as thirteen-year-old Dirk, which wasn't much except robotics and my little pony. I've since then developed a taste in movies, food, textures, and personalities that I like and dislike." The microwave beeps and he pulls it out, immediately taking a bite of the cheesy goodness. He chews for a second and swallows before continuing. "So is there anything you want to talk about in particular?"

John watches Hal prepare his own piece of pizza before shrugging, absorbing the information he told him. "I guess I kind of just want to know about you, but there might not be much to know if you haven't gotten many hobbies or interests yet really." He hummed, shrugging again. "I dont know, we can talk about whatever you want to."

Hal continued to eat his food as he thought. "Well... I do like reading. I'm a bit of a writer myself." He pauses before shrugging. "Read any good books lately?" He asks as he experimentally munches on a strip of paper plate.


	2. Chapter 2

John scrunched his nose up as he watched Hal try to eat the paper plate, that motion odd to him, but he decided to not mention anything, figuring Hal was smart enough to do what he wanted. "Books? i'm not much of a reader but ive read Slated recently and the Harry Potter books" he shrugged as he told Hal.

Hal shrugged, not responding as paper is hard to chew, especcially thick cardstock like they use for paper plates. Those are some pretty good books, though he had taken John for more of a sci-fi person than a magic person.

John waited for Hal to finish up his errr... paper plate, as he drummed his finger on the counter now, already done with his slice of pizza, crust and all. "Any particular books you like or anything?"

Hal was still chewing, but because he's an android and fuck if he needs vocal cords he just kind of talks while he's eating like any normal person. "Well... I do enjoy mythology, so the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books are entertaining, along with the 39 Clues. And I'm a bit ashamed to say that Dewey was the number one piece of cat-related literature for tugging at the metaphorical heartstrings. Seeing as I don't have them, nor does anyone, because the heart does not operate using any sort of strings."

John nodded as he listened "Interesting, and yeah, you're right about the strings thing." He nodded again as he rested his back against the cupboards now, facing Hal as he mulled over what to say. "You said you write, right? What's some stuff you've written? I know Rose and Roxy both write too."

Being Dirk, you can probably guess it's a shitload of friendfiction smut shit. "...Not much. Just some stories and things, about... friends and... stuff..." He mills, throwing away the leftover half of his plate.

He raised an eyebrow at that, even snorting out a soft laugh, it was easy to tell Hal was lying about half of that at least. "Whatever you say man. Anyways, what should we do now?"

Hal knew he knew by now, but no matter. "Let's watch another movie. How about Resident Evil?" He asked, forgetting the scrap of information that he had gathered from Dave about how John doesn't like scary movies.

John's face shrunk slightly but he shrugged anyways. "Uh.. yeah, sure, Let's watch that." He nodded, not wanting to make Hal laugh or something from the fact that scary movies weren't his favorite thing in the world

Hal noted the slight change but didn't make anything of it, he was busy checking the perimeter - nope, wait, that's a raccoon. Never mind. "Alright then. I think it's on the movie shelf."He said absentmindedly, making his way out of the kitchen and into the living room.

John followed him, a bump in his step as he sat down on the couch again. "So you like scary movies?" He questioned Hal as he watched him put the movie in after retrieving it from the shelf where Dave and Dirk kept all their movies, surprisingly organized, which was hard to believe because Dave's room was a mess.

Hal shrugged, sitting himself down. "They're alright. I don't actually have adrenaline, although I do have the capacity to be scared, but nonetheless they're cool." He says as he dims the lights and plays the movie. (Cause scary movies are best watched in the dark!)

John nods and scoots closer to where Hal is going to be sitting soon, preparing himself for the upcoming movie. He remembered the first time he and Dave watched a scary movie together, he hadn't been able to sleep the rest of the night so he and Dave just stayed up playing stupid video games the rest of the time.

He sit back down, getting comfortable and noticing that John was literally right next to him, but he didn't say anything. He vaguely remembered something Dave told him and suddenly remembered John's aversion to scary movies but by that time the movie was already starting.

John just gave Hal a small smile "Sorry, these movies just uh.. yeah." he told him, trying to focus on the movie but he did jump every once and a while, each time jumping towards Hal before scooting away again so he didnt make Hal feel uncomfortable about the closeness

Hal wasn't really even thinking about the physical contact part, more about how jumpy the noirette was and how that could be used and/or exploited. He's not a bad person for doing so, all the Striders do this subconsciously.

John still paid attention to the movie, probably from how he enjoyed movies a lot, just not scary ones. Curse his love for movies!

Eventually the movie died down a little, not ending but having a wind-down point after the climax. Hal glanced over at John briefly before checking the perimeters again. Oh, shit, Dave and Dirk are here.

John looked over at Hal to start asking a question just as the front door opened and Dave strolled in with his shades snugly on his face, he seemed to be rambling on about something to Dirk, much like he always did. Dave always rambled. But he stopped when he spotted John.

"John! Sup dude, when'd you even get here?" Dave asked, a half grin appearing on his face as he made his way over, scooting in between Hal and John to plop down beside John

Hal rolled his eyes and scooted to the far end of the couch, ignoring the questioning gaze of his creator. Their movie ended right then, and while he could not find a suitable reason to stay, there was no reason to leave, either.

Dirk tapped his shades briefly, turning them on, and the two had a silent conversation as Dirk left to go to his room.

timaeusTestified began pestering animisticResponse

TT: So, when did John show up?

AR: Four hours and seventeen minutes ago.

TT: What were you two doing?

AR: We watched a movie, pulled a prank on Dave that you might not want to be there for, had lunch, and watched another movie. Nothing else.

TT: So you're catching on to what I'm saying, then?

AR: He's got Dave. He'll be fine.

TT: If you say so.

timaeusTestified ceased pestering animisticResponse

Dave continued his ramble with John, but instead started from the beginning for him, a wider grin spreading on his face as he spoke to him and John listened tentatively to his friend, actually seeming interested in what Dave had to say

Hal quietly listens to the blond talk as he cleans up the half-mess in the living room, watching John's reactions with more interest than he can put a reason to. Though he doesn't know it yet he's dealing with his first taste of real jealousy, the bane of romcoms' existence.

And yet he has no real claim to John, seeing as how they aren't even the same age. John's three years older than he is and Dave's more of the same age, being only 8 months older. Dave's also known John longer, and they've been best friends for who the hell knows how long anymore. Not that Hal cares about any of this, they're just the facts that he already has.

He's starting to regret the whole having-a-body thing - life is fucking _hard_. Ugh.

John listened to Dave's ramble, smiling and nodding, and then laughing when he knew he should. He's listened to enough of Dave's rambles that he knew how to react when Dave paused to give the person listening, time to react. After a while though, Dave finished talking and slumped back against the couch but John stayed perked up a while longer, his eyes searching until they locked onto Hal. "Hal! Want to watch a movie or something with us?" He offered, patting the spot next to him, no clue as to why he actually still wanted Hal around, he should have been just fine with Dave, but it seemed silly to be without Hal since they had hung out the majority of the day already.

Hal clearly thought the same, raising an eyebrow in both confusion and suspicion. He also kind of wondered if Dave would be okay with this, but put it off as he simply shrugged and sat next to John. "Sure. I think I can live through another movie. If you call this living." He adds, with a smirk, eyeing Dave from behind his shades. Had his dark violet eyes been visible, the subconscious jealousy would have been noticeable, but they weren't so it wasn't.

John rolled his eyes a little and laughed softly at Hal's words "Oh you know you like the movies" He joked before he went and nudged Dave, nodding towards the TV and the red-eyed Strider sighed dramatically before he hiked himself up off of the couch to put in a new movie, watching John and Hal from behind his shades in suspicion. He couldn't find out why John was being so friendly with Hal, the thought was weird to Dave

Hal doesn't understand either. He's much more used to being shoved aside in favor of other people, and now he's starting to feel uncomfortable. The silence apparently is, too...

Dirk, meanwhile, senses the uncomfortable silence following John's question and it bugs him. So naturally, it's time for him and Cal to have fun. Oh, hey, look - the moment Dave sits down there's Cal. On his face.

Dave jumped back, a not so manly scream ripping its way from his throat as he tipped back into the couch, trying to escape Cal before he settles down. "Holy- jesus" Dave breathed as he pulled Cal away from his face, setting him down on the arm rest before turning to John- who was laughing up a storm. "Shut it, Egbert!" he stated firmly, even though his face cracked with a grin as John kept laughing

Cal was suddenly gone as a result of Dirk leaving the room. Hal was also laughing, the first actual, free-sounding noise he's made since... ever. Well. He suddenly stops as another train of thought pulls into the station and he stands up quickly, already at the window. He's more paranoid than Dave, I'll give you that. After realizing it was just a goddamned squirrel he fixed his shirt, huffing.

John's head snapped towards Hal when he started laughing, his laughs dying down slowly so he could listen to Hal, but as he gets up quickly, Dave elbows John, to get his eyes to peel away from the robot at the window now

Hal turns around and realizes they're both watching him, and starts to feel more uncomfortable. "Uh..." After two seconds he hands Dave the remote and sits down, muttering something about the movie.

John focuses back on the screen as Dave hits play and relaxes into the couch. "So, how long have you been keeping Egdork here company?" Dave asks Hal without turning his head to look at him, slightly unnerved that Hal somehow stole so much attention from John

Hal shrugs. "He showed up here a little over an hour after you two left. And as you've probably noticed, he's still here." Now that there are two people here Hal's basically just uncomfortable, not able to relax and watch the movie. Instead he just focuses on John and Dave, and his stupid emotions.

Dave shrugged and slung his arm over the back of the couch, sliding his arm to rest around John's shoulders, who scrunched up his nose and pushed Dave away a little, laughing softly as he did so before settling back in his spot to watch the movie, his eyes flickering over to Hal before back to the TV.

Hal didn't even blink, simply glancing back at Dave. _I wonder..._ he thought, experimentally setting his hand over John's. He might be thirteen in physical age, but technically he's been an AR for almost two years, and Dirk's always been a little too smart for his age... so that makes him about John's age. Y'know, if you use his slightly desperate logistics.

John felt something land over his hand and he glanced down at it, blue eyes widening a little when he saw Hal's hand, then his cheeks flamed up quickly but he didn't make a point of moving his hand away from Hal's like when he pushed Dave away. Dave almost raised an eyebrow at Hal's tactics, but he did scoot closer to John after that, moving so his legs were pressed against John's, silently readying himself to compete, even if John didn't know what was going on.

Well, shit. Challenge accepted. While John was busy watching the movie, Hal glanced over at Dave with a raise of his eyebrows and a smirk before shifting his hand to wind his fingers through John's. He didn't stop to think about how uncomfortable John's probably going to get very soon as he shifted his weight to lean on said noirette just a bit.

_It's so on._

John felt his face heat up even more as Hal's fingers wound their way through his, the metal cool on his skin, in an almost pleasant feeling.. But he was trying to watch the movie, not focus on why Hal was holding his hand all of a sudden! And- oh god, Dave's hand was now on his knee, just resting there and John suddenly felt a little small between the two Striders, but whatever the two of them were doing, John could just power through it, right?

Striders have a naturally competitive nature, did you know that? Well, now you do. Hal's going for a more 'I like you let's be more than friends' approach, and Dave seems to be using a 'hey we're friends but lets fuck' kinda thing. Hal slows his breathing (which is really easy) and kinda leans on John like he's going to fall asleep. Which he can actually do now, during his Rest & Recharge period.

John leaned more towards Hal to support his body as he seemed to be going to sleep, and he wanted to shy away from Dave a little more as the red-eyed Striders hand was creeping up his leg slowly. Dave was sure he was winning, it looked like Hal wasn't even trying, plus this game was to get to John's dick, or heart? Dave didn't care, he just wanted to win.

Hal, having studied John's movements, thought processes, and speech patterns, had decided the best way to win this little game was to just play it cool and maybe get Dave to do something to set John off in a way. Although, he wasn't mean - he wanted their friendship-whatever to stay the same. Hal was just an android, after all. But he proceeded to count what he was doing as winning, and emulated sleep with a bit more subtle shifts in breathing, balance, slack, and lack of movement.

John kept shying away from Dave, who was still inching his hand up John's leg at a snails pace. It seemed weird, John wasn't sure why Hal was basically resting against him now, when the robot had shied away from John everytime he touched him earlier, it was just confusing. As well as what Dave was doing. Dave never touched John like that before, sure there were flirty touches here and there, but they were just jokes! Right?

It was dark inside and outside, and so naturally it was hard to see except for the dim glow of the plasma-screen. Hal could tell the movie was almost over, it was a Cruiser so it would naturally end pretty abruptly, but he'd seen it before. He didn't bother with watching it once there were only ten minutes left, instead just snuggling into John and watching Dave out of his peripherals.

Dirk was watching the whole thing in his room from Hal's Shades link, which he had forgotten to turn off. It was better than a movie to a Hero of Heart. Hehe.

Dave seemed pretty determined to touch John's dick, and the moment his fingers hit John's inner thigh, John was almost in Hal's lap, eyes wide and startled as he rushed to get off the couch and off of Hal's lap that he had accidentally jumped into. "Dave! What the hell!" John whined, his cheeks aflame as Dave merely smirked and shrugged in response

Hal jumped, startled by all this sudden movement and exclamations. "What's going on?" He asked with an easily emulated yawn as he cocked an eyebrow to Dave. Yeah, Hal won. Totally. He couldn't hide the smirk, though.

"Dave was trying to make a pass at my dick!" John exclaimed, his head snapping to look at Hal as he pointed at Dave, his cheeks still heated up from embarrassment. Dave looked between John and Hal, before he scowled when he saw Hal smirk, it was so not fair. "Wait, hold up, you let Hal hold your hand, why can't I touch your dick?" Dave asked calmly and John's eyes widened even more. "Dave! What does that even matter?! You almost touched my dick!"

"I think I won." Hal says as he lets his smirk free. "And I think you were just used as a pawn, sorry John. He started it, though." Hal explained, settling himself back in his normal seating position, with another glance at Dave. Childish though he may be, experimenting like that was pretty fun.

John grumbled softly and went to sit down at a different spot, away from both Hal and Dave, for some reason it actually kind of upsetted him to find out they were both just using him to play a silly little game. "Yeah yeah yeah, it's whatever" John focused back on the movie, which was winding down now, not paying attention to Dave who was watching John from his previous seat, actually concern written on his face

Hal, of course, was watching John as well. He felt kind of bad, but it was all in good fun. Although the way Dave was looking at John concerned him as well, maybe John didn't normally react like this. An idea to cheer John up appeared in his mind, and he tried not to smile. Not wanting to risk letting Dave know, he sent a message to John's phone.

animisticResponse began pestering ectoBiologist

AR: Hey, want to see what happens when Dave takes a shower?

John felt his pocket buzz and he dug around for his phone before pulling it out, his eyes going to Dave, thinking that Dave must have pestered him to apologize or something, but instead it was Hal.

EB: i'm pumped to see dave freak out about his hair!

He wrote back, a grin pulling at his lips at the thought. Even though he wasn't too happy with being used by Hal and Dave like he was, he did want to see how Dave would 'like' his hair

AR: So how are we going to get him to do it?

He sent it quickly, before looking back at John momentarily. He still felt bad; he'd been used before and it didn't feel too great.

AR: And I'm sorry about what happened, Striders have a competitive nature.

EB: spill something on him maybe?

John sent, glancing at Dave then at Hal, before back down at his phone

EB: yeah i know you guys do i just..

He paused after sending that one message, trying to think of what to say, should he be honest?

EB: i guess i just didnt expect that from you

John sent finally, relaxing back in his seat, he'd let Hal look at it the way he wanted to, if he thought John meant about being competitive, that was fine, or if Hal knew John was talking about not expecting Hal to use him too, that was fine too. At least John was being honest

Hal wasn't exactly sure what to make of it, but he wasn't going to do it again. The movie ended, credits rolling, while Hal tried to think of something to do to Dave to get him in the shower. He takes one every night, but John would be long gone by then, unless...

AR: Sleepover? That way it wouldn't be suspicious.

He smiled, absentmindedly reading off all the names on the screen to himself.

John read over the text and pondered it for a moment. He hadn't slept over in ages it felt like, and now the Striders did have someone new John could admire- _talk to. _

EB: sleepover sounds cool!

He sent Hal, his eyes flickering over to him, and yes, okay, he kind of was admiring Hal, his smile sure was nice.

EB: id love to see if my prank actually works!

Hal noticed John looking at him a lot, and glanced over at Dave to catch his undeniable reaction.

AR: Good.

"Hey, John, would you like to stay over for a sleepover?" Hal asked, not wanting it to be weird for said other Strider if they just suddenly decided John was going to stay over without involving him in the conversation.

John's gaze dropped from Hal to move over to Dave now, not wanting to let Dave know he was blatantly admiring Hal, shit, Hal probably noticed! "Huh? Yeah, sleepover sounds good" He answered and waited for Dave to nod. "I'll hook up the game system Egdork" Dave stated, pulling his shades down to wink playfully at John before getting off the couch to hook up said game system

Hal rolled his eyes at Dave behind his own shades. Unlike the other blonde, Hal actually made an _effort_ to keep his eyes a secret. The other Striders in this house didn't bother with that, apparently, even though it had been one of Dirk's own rules awhile ago. But when English came in and brought his derp of a cousin with, that rule went out the fucking window. Ugh. Hal continued to be lost in his own thoughts once again, absentmindedly tapping out a four-beat rhythm on the couch's arm.

John rolled his eyes at Dave's actions, even though he was actually quite fond of Dave's eyes. He saw Dirk's every once and a while, but he saw Dave's more often, and he was simply fascinated with their beautiful color, and that brought him to his train of thought now. What color were Hal's eyes? Were they red like Dave's? Or like Dirk's? Or maybe Dirk gave Hal a set of brown or green eyes? John was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't even notice when Dave sat back down, the game system all hooked up and ready to go

Hal started when Dave plopped his fine ass down on that couch once again, completely forgetting about his surroundings momentarily. He still wondered what John's eyes would look like without his glasses on, though. Maybe he could engineer some sort of plan...? "Dave, you know I can't play games. I'm gonna suck." Hal huffed.

Dave raised an eyebrow and smirked as he tossed a controller over to John who caught it, before handing one to Hal as well. "And? John sucks ass at video games, but he still tries to beat me. But I'm the master" Dave boasted before John snickered and rolled his eyes. "Don't be so conceited dude, Dirk whooped your ass in five minutes the last time we played any video game together"

Hal decided he was going to win without hesitation, so as he grabbed the controller he tapped into its internal mechanisms and basically just sends the electrical signals to the ps4 without him having to press the buttons. He was going to win for sure, now, but of course he was going to beat Dave's ass and help out John and stuff. Cheating for the greater good.

John leaned back in his seat as Dave started up the game and let everyone choose their own characters before it started fully. Dave looked pretty determined to smoke both Hal and John's asses with the game as his eyes were glued to the TV, atleast they appeared to be from behind his shades

Aww shit it's about to go down. Yeah, so someone cheats a lot using his tap-in technique and yeah his name only has three letters. So... yeah.

Dave catches onto the cheating soon after it starts, as he is a Strider and knows when shit is up. "Hal, stop your shit!" He huffed as he desperately fought to gain second place but for some odd reason it seemed that John was in second place

"I'm just playing the game. Maybe you should stop sucking." Hal grinned, continuing much more. John was actually doing better than Hal had expected, getting second place with a little help from Hal in showing Dave to his place in third. He chuckles, actually having a good time.

"I dont suck! Tell him John!" Dave huffed, glancing over to John, who just laughed and shrugged, grinning towards Hal. "Dont lie dude, you totally suck, thats why Hal and I are beating you!" He stated jokingly before continuing on with the game

Hal grinned back, even going so far as to let John get first when the level ended. Maybe video games are fun, after all. "Hey, should we eat something?" He suggested, setting his controller down and unnecessarily checking his iPhone.

John hooted and hollered when he won, a wide grin on his face as Dave groaned and proclaimed that John somehow cheated. "Yeah, I could eat. Anything you want, Egbert?" Dave asked as he hiked himself off the couch, stretching for a moment as he watched John put down his own controller. "Same as always man" John told him, smiling still and Dave nodded, turning to Hal and waiting to hear what he wanted. It was obvious Dave and John hung out frequently, as Dave did know what John wanted right off the bat once John answered

"Bacon. Why? Because bacon, that's why." Hal shrugged, noting said inflection of much-hanging-out as he had already known that. It was so obvious. Nonetheless he still felt jealous, and obviously didn't realize it because he's new at having real live emotions.

Dave raised an eyebrow before shrugging, heading towards the kitchen now. "Put in a movie or something if you want. John likes any of the lame shit on the left side of the TV" Dave spoke to Hal before fully disappearing into the room, leaving Hal and John alone now. "So... bacon huh? thats a good answer" John piped up, trying to hick a conversation going between him and Hal

"I don't know, bacon apparently tastes good and a lot of people on tumblr use bacon as a random-ass answer when they're uncomfortable." He shrugs, a bit of a tone to his voice that wasn't there earlier due to the raging levels of jealousy he's now capable of feeling.

John noted the tone and shrunk back a little before getting up and going to sit beside Hal instead. "Bacon is really good, I'm sure youll like it! Its just odd to eat it at night, as its like a breakfast food I guess" John told him, even offering up Hal a smile to try and ease him out of him supposedly grumpy sounding mood

Hal shrugs. "People eat breakfast for dinner. It's not that weird. People treat dinner as the largest meal of the day, when really people eat more breakfast than they do dinner. I figure they should start calling breakfast 'supper' instead of dinner, but it's not like anyone listens to me." He kind of rambles on, a tendency all Striders share when nervous as John probably knows by now. He wasn't nervous earlier because Dave was there and it was more of a little game, but now being in this kind of proximity to John with his newfound feelings was making him jumpy as hell.

John tilted his head to the side a little, smiling at Hal as he noticed his rambling spout from nerves, but he stopped himself from speaking up about those, instead opening his mouth but stopping quickly before the words 'You're cute' could leave him. _Was he seriously about to just call Hal cute?! _"You're right about all of those things. I didn't know people ate more at breakfast than dinner though! You probably already know this, but in some places, theres four meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper!"

Hal smiled back, noting how close John had been to saying something other than what he had. What had he been about to say? Suddenly Hal was dying to know. "I did know that, actually I was referring to the fact that most Americans only have the three meals, sometimes not even that, and the usually end up calling the largest meal of the day 'supper'." He paused as he wondered what Dave would think of this if he was in the room. "You know, your eyes are really blue. If I had to put a hex code to them I'd say somewhere around #0715cd." He said with a shrug, and a sudden nervousness to his smile.

Was it even possible to harbor romantic feelings towards a robot? An AR system that one of your friends made? Well, the answer to those questions, would be yes, yes you can, because John was harboring a shit ton after Hal finished speaking, more than he was unknowingly harboring before. "You think so? Heh.. thank you Hal." He tilted his head down now as a blush appeared on his cheeks and he wondered what Dave was doing, or if he was listening from the other room. "You know, your uh.. your rambling is actually kind of cute and stuff"

Hal looked almost taken aback for a moment, before a nice silvery blush settled on his own cheeks and ha looked off to the side. "Uh, thanks... and they really are a nice color. Like Tardis blue, maybe a little darker." He starts to wonder what John would think of his eyes, despite the fact that he was annoyed with Dave and Dirk for feeling the same thing. He could understand why Dave had let John slide past on this.

John took in the blush Hal gave off, smiling almost proudly that he made Hal blush like that. "Well, thank you!" He told Hal cheerfully now, before a thought struck him and he leaned forward a little in interest. "Hal, if you don't care about me asking, what color are your eyes? I know that Dave's are red and Dirk's are orange, but I'm just curious about yours" It was a shot in the dark, hell, the first time John saw Dave's eyes, it was a complete accident and Dave was so distraught he almost kicked John out, but he didn't, and John had told Dace that his eyes were pretty.

Well Hal, here's your chance... Although he wasn't rambling anymore, he was certainly nervous. "I... don't see why not. I can only imagine what Dave went through in his younger years because of those eyes, but I haven't, so I really can't think of a reason why not." Okay, he was rambling. A lot. Fuck. Just shut up and take your stupid glasses off, Hal. His hand pauses for a second on the arm of his shades and he bites his lip before lifting them slowly and tucking them into his hair.

((i can just imagine dave walking in and being like what the fuck is going on here

((Dave would ruin a magical moment

((Yes but then again Dave would ruin this if he could

John waits patiently, even almost going to tell Hal that he didn't have to take them off if he didn't feel comfortable doing that. It was like a sacred thing, Striders don't remove their shades. But then again, here Hal was, removing his shades so John could see his eyes. The color was shocking to John right off the bat, as he hadn't been expecting purple. A slight gasp even left him as he studied Hal's eyes. They were gorgeous. Hal was gorgeous. Fuck. "Wow.. Hal, they're... magnificent." John was all but a loss for words as he opted out for a lesser word to describe Hal's outstanding eyes

Hal balked, wow that really brightened his day. Night. What the fuck ever. He grinned, even going so far as to set his hand over John's again. "You... really think so? Thanks, I... picked the color myself." He chuckles. "That sounds kind of weird, but whatever. I did, and I like this purple." He was still rambling, but he didn't care.

John's cheeks heated up a little at Hal's hand resting over his, but something inside him told him it was a good idea to turn his hand over so that his and Hal's palms could press together, almost like they were holding hands, so John did just that. "I really like the color, it fits you well." He told Hal with a smile, still studying Hal's eyes for a moment. If he strained his ears hard enough, it sounded like Dave was finishing up in the kitchen, but John hoped he wasn't. "Really, your eyes are perfect. I really like them"

Despite his internal fangirling, Hal was calm enough on the outside. He also heard Dave in the kitchen, but he wasn't about to say anything. "Your eyes are better. They're natural, and still gorgeous..." He blushed more as he said this, realizing that _holy shit he just said that._ "I mean they're really cool, fuck." He glances off to the side, at the kitchen.

John let out a sweet laugh, smiling at Hal before glancing at the kitchen as well for a moment. It felt like John was trying to do scandalous things with Hal without Dave knowing, and it also felt like their time was ticking down after every word they said. But, Dave hasn't showed up yet, taking his sweet ass time in the kitchen doing god knows what. Probably listening in, John was ninety percent sure Dave was listening in. "You're.. you're really cute Hal.." John trailed off, a blush lighting up his cheeks again. _Oh my god! Did he really just say that? Did he __**really **__just tell Hal he was cute?!_

Hal was thinking about the way he knew Dave liked John, and kind of felt like he was intruding on whatever they had beforehand. This was stupid, he should stop. He abruptly let John's hand go, pulling away to flick his shades down. John didn't really like him, nor should he. He should like Dave because Dave is a member of his own species, goddammit, and Hal is not. Even if Hal was cute, it was just because he was made that way.

Meanwhile the other half of Hal is astonished he would even think that, but busy fangirling over what John said. Did John really think he was cute...?

John's eyes widened a little at the fast actions, and it felt like he got slapped in the face. "Did.. I do something wrong?" John asked before he could stop himself, the words leaving him slowly. Had he done something wrong? Said something wrong? Maybe he was reading everything wrong and Hal didn't like him? Maybe that's just how he thought humans showed friendly feelings? Shit, John fucked up. "Look, I didn't mean to cross any lines, I had just thought that-" John got cut off by Dave entering the room once again, somehow holding a can of pepsi, a bottle of aj, and a can of orange soda, as well as a plate of bacon, pizza and a few bags of chips. "Alright, I've scrapped together the good shit for this sleep over" Dave announced as he set everything down on the coffee table before plopping down on the couch beside John, before he noticed how John was still slightly turned towards Hal, a defeated look to him almost. "Shit, what killed your mood?" Dave asked, eyes shooting to Hal behind his shades. He knew, of course Dave knew, but he couldn't let them know he knew.

Hal continued to stay silent, staring at the far wall. He shouldn't be so stupid. John obviously liked him, even though he really shouldn't, and he shouldn't be so rude as to do this but he didn't want to attempt to explain this in front of Dave. Or altogether, really, but this gave him an actual excuse. He looked down at his hands in his lap, feeling like if he liked John like this he shouldn't act this way but _ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh._

John shook his head after shrugging, not offering up any kind of wording as to why he suddenly seemed down. Right, of course Hal didn't like him. Hal was just being friendly and John misread it all, and now Hal probably felt really weird and John felt like a prick. "Wellllllll, alrighty" Dave dragged out the first word as he kept throwing glances between Hal and John, waiting to see if either of them would say anything. Sure, he was kind of pissed off that John suddenly fell head over stupid heels for Hal, but he was more pissed off with the fact that John got upset over it all. "Got pepsi and pizza for you Egbert, orange soda and bacon for Hal, doritos, aj and im sharing some of Johns pizza" Dave dished out the selected things to them all

Hal, because he didn't actually require sustenance, had no appetite anyways but if he did he wouldn't because of what just happened and now John probably thinks he's being mean or something and ugh. "Thanks, Dave..." He said with a bit of a bored tone to his voice, basically just trying not to say anything due to the fact that he's still mixed up.

Meanwhile, Dirk walks through the room, taking Dave's doritos with him as he heads to the front door. "I'll be back later." He says simply before grabbing his orange and black jacket and heading out.

John watched Dirk go with slight curiosity before he slumped down in his seat, popping open the can of pepsi Dave got him. He wanted to talk to Hal, ask him what was up, and if he had just been reading too far into it. Or.. maybe Hal was just using him again? Hell, he probably just wanted to one-up Dave and get John to actually confess his feelings and John fell for it. "Thanks for this, Dave" John offered his friend a small smile and Dave returned it with a smile of his own, nodding. "Sure thing John. And Hal" He nodded in Hal's direction after a moment, relaxing back against the cushions.

Hal continues to stare at his lap and ignore his surroundings for awhile, although he jumps back into reality at the sound of thunder. He stares out the window at the dark overcast sky, suddenly getting up and getting blankets out of the closet - two red ones and a blue one for John. He hands them to the others without a word, avoiding John's gaze and curling up inside his blanket on the chair next to the couch.

John tried to meet Hal's eyes when Hal handed over the blanket but Hal wasn't having that and John got to watch him go and sit in the chair next to the couch, curling up there, and John did much of the same, hugging the blanket around himself as he stayed seated, Dave getting up to put in another movie.

ectoBiologist began pestering animisticResponse

EB: hey..

EB: look hal...

EB: im sorry

John sent to Hal as he snuggled in his blanket, his eyes no longer focused on Hal, and he figured he could at least apologize to him to show he didn't mean to fuck up the little friendship they had. Fuck, Hal probably like Jane, or Roxy, or Jade. They were all really nice girls, so surely Hal liked one of them

Apparently John wasn't paying attention to the nature of Striders. Homosexuality runs in the brotherhood. Well, sort of. But Hal stared at the text on his screen for at least five minutes before answering.

AR: Don't apologize.

AR: It's not you, it's me. I'm being stupid, okay? Don't feel bad.

It's not quite what he meant but he couldn't figure out how to say what he meant so it was close enough.

John stared at the screen for a moment or two as he thought over what he could say in reply. He didn't quite understand, what did Hal mean by it was him and not John?

EB: no i should be sorry

EB: i was reading into it all too much and i thought you liked me and

EB: well i fucked up. so im sorry

That was the easiest way to say it, right? That John thought he screwed up because Hal obviously didn't like him, so there was no point in trying right? Maybe John just wasn't destined to be with a Strider, of any kind.

Hal huffed at his screen.

AR: I said stop apologizing.

AR: I do like you, at least I think I do, but... For fuck's sake, John, I'm a goddamned robot. Go be with Dave, he's a human like you. I honestly don't care at this point, as long as you're enjoying yourself and life and existence and what the fuck ever I'm fine.

He stuffed his phone in his pocket at that point, completely done.

John stared down at his screen for a while before looking over at Hal, his expression more than likely sad and broken up and after a moment of looking at Hal, he turned back to his phone, debating out a proper reply.

EB: if i wanted to be with dave i would be already, but i dont like dave like that

EB: but i like you like that even if youre a 'goddamned robot'

He sent before closing his phone and tossing it down as he shook away the blanket with a sigh. "Ill be right back" John stated, standing up and heading towards the bathroom. He wanted to just be away from the two Striders, it was making him feel like shit.

Curse teenage hormones and crushes.

Hal didn't bother getting his phone out again, merely checking the blue text through his glasses. He wordlessly watched John go, and spoke to Dave after a moment. "Do you Like John?" He asked, and the meaning in his voice was clear. He was going to sort this out, and he needed to know how Dave felt in order to do that.

Dave blinked over to Hal from the TV, then looked around to make sure John was gone before he answered properly. "No point in hiding it I guess, it's pretty damn obvious I do." He shrugged slightly, his 'cool' demeanor still lasting, before his shoulders slumped a little. "But he doesn't like me. He's made it pretty clear last year and a few months ago that he just really isn't interested in me. 'We're bestfriends Dave, I don't wanna ruin that' quoted, straight from the Egbert's mouth"

The thing Hal would normally ask here is something to the extent of 'well then would it be okay if i like him cause i'm pretty sure he likes me' but being Hal, he's not really comfortable with that kind of thing. Mabye he should just see how this all plays out. "Interesting."

Dave raised an eyebrow at Hal's unasked question, Dave was a Strider, he knew when something was up. "I heard it by the way, your and John's- well, just John's I guess- confession and all." He stated, watching Hal to see if he'd react at all.

Hal figured as much, but he just continued watching Dave back. "It's not right. I can only get the feeling you two would have been better off together if I hadn't fucked it up." ((Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons comes to mind)) He shrugs, shifting under his blanket.

Dave sighed and pushed his shades up a little to rub at his eyes. "Look, I want to be pissed at you, alright? I was chasing after John since like seventh grade but he aint having it. And just cause youre not going after him when he went after you, cause you think he'll suddenly like me, its not going to happen." He shrugged, his eyes flickering away from Hal for a moment.

Hal was quiet for awhile. "...If you really think it's okay. And I've been talking to Jade recently - she really likes you, maybe you could hang out with her more often. And lose the dog jokes, those are douchey." He smiles a bit as he remembers the long conversation they'd had about Dave and everything. He figured he could find a way to pay her back for the help in planning out his body.

Dave raised an eyebrow, a soft chuckle leaving him. "Harley? I knew she liked me" he joked softly. "Yeah, I can do that, close the door to the dog jokes and open the flood gates that are my feelings for Jade Harley. Check"

Hal raises an eyebrow. "I'm serious - they piss her off to hell and back and she never fucking shuts up about it. She's really inetersting, especcially when she gets on to a rant about quantum mechanics, but I seriously can't stand it anymore, bro." He chuckles, knowing almost exactly how Jade feels but hey he doesn't complain the living daylights out of it.

"Hey man, I already said I'll stop them, I aint that big of a fucking dick" He laughed for a moment. "So that means youre gonna go after buck-tooth wonder?"

Hal shrugs. "Well, it's kind of rude to ignore someone who so obviously likes you like that." Oh, wait. You just called John rude, wow. Great people skills, Hal. "But yeah, I do like him. And if it's alright with you I think I will."

Dave laughed again for a moment, shaking his head. "Hes not ignoring you man, hes giving you space. Hes smart enough to also know we needed to chat" He shrugged "Yeah, you go get the boy Hal"

Hal nodded quietly, pulling out his phone and letting his thumbs glide over the keyboard.

AR: John, if you're gone any longer I just might have to report you MIA.

He sent it with a short chuckle at his own personal joke, ((I ACCIDENTALLY WROTE JOHN)) looking back up at Dave. "You... might want to avoid taking a shower tonight, to be honest."

John rolled his eyes a little when he read the message.

EB: haha point taken

He sent before he flushed for dramatic effect and went to wash his hands as well.

Dave raised an eyebrow at Hal, suspicion rising in him immediately. "What do you know that youre not telling me?"

On second thought... "What do you mean? I know a lot of things I'm not telling you, like how many digits are in pi before 314 comes up again and just how complicated your cardivascular system is." He says with a smirk, really just waiting for John to show up.

Dave stared at him for a long moment. "Dont shit me Hal, whats up?" He asked slowly just before the one and only John Egbert hopped down the stairs, walking back over to the couch. "No need to fear guys, I am here" He joked as he plopped down in his seat from before

Hal looks like he's actually about to answer but now John's here and he smiles at the 'bucktoothed wonder' from his chair. "Hey, look. The aliens must have dropped him back off here. Can't see what they would need with him." He says with a bit of a smirk.

John rolls his eyes at Hal and laughs a little. "They _were _going to proclaim me as their king, but _someone _said I needed to come back or theyd file a report" He laughed as he joked

Hal smirks. "Well maybe you should go back and be king of the nerds." He replies, shifting the blankets down around his shoulders. "So, John..." He starts but doesn't quite finish.

John rolls his eyes and laughs before starting to open his mouth to give back a sassy comeback, but stopping his words so Hal could talk. "So Hal?" He echoed back, sitting up a little as he faced Hal a little more as Dave internally groaned and felt secondhand embarrassment with how Hal was flirting, or trying to, but hell, it was working on John

He looks off to the side. "About earlier..." How do you put this? we all know how hard it is to talk to your crush, but with Dave _right there_ it was like trying to swim against the current. The words just wouldn't come.

John's face started to heat up a little and he cleared his throat a tiny bit. "Oh uh.. yeah.." He trailed off, not knowing if Hal was going to say something good or not. "I am going to go upstairs and bug Harley. Don't break anything" Dave stated, standing up and collecting his apple juice and a piece of pizza before he disappeared up the stairs

Hal watched Dave go before standing up and taking his place next to John. "Yeah, I... Sorry about how I acted. I talked to Dave about it, and... I really like you." He blushes, not looking at John as he says this.

John turned to look at Hal once he sat down and once he heard his words his cheeks heated up quickly and he looked down for a moment before reaching to take Hal's hand in his own. "So uh... it's a good thing I like you too then.. right?"

Hal blushed more if it was possible, but lightly squeezed John's hand. "Yeah... of course it is. If you didn't I guess I wouldn't have anything to do." He said with a smile.

John smiled a little, turning his hand to lace his fingers with Hal's as he smiled. "And I guess I wouldnt have anything to do either if you didnt like me too.. which Im really glad you do"

Hal looked over at the door. "You'd have Dave." The silence after his three-word sentence has some meaning to it, but he doesn't really care about that, I suppose. He's dealt with Dave and they've come to an understanding: Hal makes John happy and if Hal doesn't do that Dave's gonna wreck his shit.

John shook his head, squeezing Hal's hand lightly "hey, I think Ive made it pretty clear that i dont want Dave, I want you" he stated clearly to Hal, trying to make it known he did full heartily like Hal

Hal looks back at John. "I meant as a friend, he'd probably keep you entertained. He's good at that." He concedes, smiling a bit.

Johns face flushed a little in embarrassment and he nodded "Oh.. my bad. And I guess that is true, Dave does keep people entertained"

Hal smirks. "Despite what happened last time, would you be averse to inviting Dave back down here for another couple movies? You are his best friend after all, he'd have literally nothing to do if you weren't." Not true, but pretty accurate to how Dave behaves.

John hummed as he thought for a moment, a flirty playful tone to his voice as he replied "Weeeelll, I wanted to spend sometime alone with you, but.. I guess as Dave doesnt have anything else to do, I dont mind him coming back down here"

Hal cocked an eyebrow, giving John a mockingly panicked look. "Alone time, already? This is moving substantially quickly - do you even have a ring? Dave's going to be the flower girl, right?" He snickers.

John started to crack up as he nodded. "Oh yeah, of course, Dave would throw a fit if he wasnt the flower girl, the ring-bearer just wouldnt do for him. And would a ring pop suffice?" he laughed

That made Hal laugh as well, sincerely enjoying just being with John and joking about random shit. "Only blue raspberry. Although I don't see how I'll be able to stop myself from eating it, if that's the case. Not a great idea."

John was still in a fit of giggles, enjoying the joke. "Oh but thats the thing! Once you like eat the ring, I can just go and buy a new one and ring pops will be getting so much business from us that theyll make new flavors so BOOM! new flavors and new rings. Everyday"

Hal ran a hand through his hair, still laughing. "What if they named one after us? Blue and purple swirl, Egbert Strider berry. Wow, haha." He tries to calm down his laughing a bit.

John was still laughing, turning so he could place his forehead on Hals shoulder as he laughed "Oh my god Hal" he laughed, his shoulders shaking with his laughs. "We should tell Ring Pops about this, god man we'd be rich" He laughed

Hal's laughing died down to chuckles as he watched John out of his peripherals, the fact that he was willingly making this much contact with Hal was a bit fascinating to the android. "Yeah, totally."

John smiled as he blushed again, liking the contact so much that he even wrapped his arm around Hal's shoulders comfortably

Hal cuddled into John a bit more, blushing as well. "Wanna watch a movie?" He asked, wondering if he should actually invite Dave down or not.


End file.
